About 12 to 18 months ago, Gustav Lokotsch, Senior Accountant at Jendamark Automation, learned about the incentive programmes that were available for his company from government. He then became interested in MCEP, the Manufacturing Competitiveness Enhancement Programme.

Jendamark, which was established in 1989, provides production solutions to the automotive pharmaceutical, food, beverage and packing industries. The company has vast experience in turnkey projects and special purpose machinery, enabling them to provide world-class production lines and assembly facilities to international and local customers. Jendamark will also maintain their machinery throughout its entire life cycle.

Sasfin assisted him in applying for funds through the MCEP and once granted, had an extremely positive impact on Jendamark’s cash flow. Approximately R10 million has been invested in upgrading the tool room over the past 12 to 24 months.

“It has not only improved the return on our investment on money spent in upgrading the tool room but also assisted in maintaining cash flows during this investment phase,” Lokotsch says.

He feels that the benefits provided by Sasfin far outweigh the costs, “The fee is easily negated when one considers the efficiency with which Sasfin delivered the application and how fast the money was paid over from the Department of Trade and Industry (dti).“

Working with Sasfin meant that Lokotsch had someone to directly liaise with the dti on all queries. When he received requests for information he would simply forward these requests on with the knowledge that they would be dealt with speedily.

Lokotsch believes he could have applied for the MCEP on his own but this process may have been timely and inefficient in comparison to the route he chose.

“Personally I think it would have been a very tedious and time consuming process. The efficiencies achieved through Sasfin’s relationship with the dti would have not been possible,” he says.

Lokotsch has a close working relationship with Sasfin and liaised with Brenden Adriaanzen, Incentives Manager at Sasfin.

“Brenden is always willing to help and constantly makes me aware of incentive programmes that will add value to Jendamark. Currently, we have applied for Duty Drawback and we are looking into some tax incentive schemes,” he says.

“Liaising with Sasfin was really easy and a very pleasant experience. Brenden always kept me informed of progress of approvals and of our application as well as progress on our claim submission once approval had been obtained.”

Jendamark’s decision to apply for dti incentives through Sasfin led to pivotal progress, a new business relationship and an ease of cash flow through the business.